Legal Epidemiology: A Reflection

The gradual emergence of the field of legal epidemiology is welcome news within the field of public health. The application of the relevant aspects of both tort and criminal law undoubtedly has a place in the general scheme of public health’s design of promoting health while preventing disease and chronic conditions.

The podcasts as well as readings shed light on a very important aspect of corporate responsibility and accountability in relation to the law and public health. In listening to Wendy Parmet (The Week in Health Law), one cannot help but think back to the Johns-Mansville corporation debacle and how valuing profits - and in the case of Flint cost saving measures - over human lives can lead to certain unintended consequences.

The Johns-Mansville Corporation was the largest producer of asbestos and asbestos products in the early to late 1900s. After many years of success in the asbestos manufacturing business, there were complaints among workers of difficulties breathing; which at the time the scientific community had put out evidence suggesting that the inhalation of asbestos dust was responsible for the condition (Selikoff et al 1984). Unfortunately, not unlike the lead crisis in Flint, the very leaders at the helm of affairs decided to give no credence to the scientific evidence being presented which led to many lawsuits and counter lawsuits (Rosenberg and Brodeur 1986) due to workers suffering chronic conditions.

By implementing some of the legal tools (Bernheim et al., 2013) that aim to reduce injury and disease, problems such as what took place in Flint, Michigan can be avoided. Implementing such tools as requiring elected officials to ensure the periodic safety testing of water can be helpful. Besides a requirement to ensure a preventive approach through testing, the improvement of communication with the citizens of Flint along the lines of creating awareness about clean, potable drinking water has the potential to avoid the problems experienced.